Bullshit headlines

[Piggybank Cop]

A stun gun, a woman, 69, and now a fine
Mo. driver who honked at police, sparking altercation, must pay $650
The Associated Press
Updated: 2:10 p.m. ET Feb 9, 2007

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A 69-year-old woman who was shocked with a stun gun after she honked her car horn at a police cruiser has been convicted of resisting arrest for sparking a quarrel with officers.

A Circuit Court jury refused to send Louise Jones to jail, fining her $650 instead.

Jones’ attorney, Basil North, said he might appeal. “We don’t think she should have been convicted of anything,” he said.

On June 15, 2004, police officers Cory Le Moine and Ryan VanDeusen responded to a domestic disturbance call near Jones’ home. The officers were cruising the street slowly, watching for trouble. Jones was in her car behind the police vehicle when she honked her horn and pulled into her driveway.

Police, spooked by the horn, parked and questioned Jones, leading to a scuffle after they threatened to write her a ticket. The stun gun of one of the officers discharged during the altercation, according to testimony.

The trial was Jones’ second in the case.

She and her 78-year-old husband, Fred, who tried to break up the scuffle, had been convicted and sentenced to probation by a judge in Municipal Court over the incident. Both appealed, and charges against the husband were dismissed, while the wife was granted a retrial in Circuit Court.

As I read this she did not get Tased; what the hell's the problem?

[BEB]

Went to look to see if she was tasered or not...in the spirit of bullshit headlines thought I'd share what various papers ran.

Oh, and just on the tasering point..."the prongs missed" With that in mind, here are the headlines.

Tasered Grandma Fined in Police Scuffle
Chicago Tribune

Mo. Woman Convicted in Police Scuffle
Guardian UK

Grandmother Stunned With Taser Gun Fined By Jury
KMBC, Kansas City

Woman fined in Taser case
Kansas City Star

Last one seemed to have the most detail, I'll include it below. But I can't find a headline that says "Woman Fined For Resisting Arrest, Assaulting Officer"

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...l/16657521.htm

A Jackson County jury on Thursday convicted a 69-year-old Kansas City woman of shoving a police officer and resisting arrest but refused to jail her.

The racially charged case of Louise Jones got national attention two years ago, when an officer discharged a Taser at her. It happened in a melee that began after police tried to ticket the woman for honking her car’s horn.

After finding Jones guilty on Thursday, jurors fined her $250 for attempted infliction of bodily injury and $400 for resisting arrest.

The incident occurred June 15, 2004, when Officers Cory Le Moine and Ryan VanDeusen responded to a domestic disturbance call near 51st Street and Euclid Avenue, where Jones and her husband live.

The officers said they were cruising the street slowly, watching for trouble.

Jones was in her Cadillac, with her sister as a passenger. They were right behind the police car when she accidentally tooted her horn and then pulled into her driveway.

Police, spooked by the horn, parked and asked Jones whether she had called them. She said no; some other things are in dispute.

Police say Jones stayed outside cursing them after they walked down the street. Jones said she only commented to her sister and a woman neighbor that police would not be threatening a senior citizen with a horn honking ticket in a rich white neighborhood.

Le Moine said he returned and asked Jones for her license to write her a ticket. She refused to give it to him and went in her house, he said.

But Jones said the officer didn’t ask for her license outside and instead came to her door and demanded it. She says she demanded to know why, and the officer came in and started trying to handcuff her.

The officer said Jones shoved him and he started trying to arrest her for assault. At some point, the other officer discharged a Taser at her, but the prongs missed.

Police threw Jones to the floor and started to cuff her. Her husband, Fred Jones, woke up, came downstairs and tried to pull an officer off and got thrown to the floor and cuffed.

Two years ago, Jones and her husband, now 78, were convicted and sentenced to probation by a municipal judge.

Fred Jones appealed his conviction for interfering in her arrest, and senior Jackson County Judge Lee Wells recently dismissed the case on legal technicalities. Another city judge previously dismissed the horn honking ticket.

Louise Jones also appealed, and the case was retried this week in Jackson County Circuit Court. On Thursday, assistant city prosecutor Melody Cockrell asked for one weekend in jail on each count and an unspecified fine for each count, but said of the jail time: “I’m not arguing strenuously for it.”

After the verdicts, Cockrell said she was pleased with a fair verdict and a fair outcome.

Defense lawyer Basil North said: “We don’t think she should have been convicted of anything.” He said he will consider whether to appeal.

[121Traffic]

Defense lawyer Basil North said: “We don’t think she should have been convicted of anything.” He said he will consider whether to appeal.

Really, asshole? On what grounds? Here's Colorado's take on it, and I imagine Missouri's statute is pretty similar.

18-8-103. Resisting arrest.
Statute text
(1) A person commits resisting arrest if he knowingly prevents or attempts to prevent a peace officer, acting under color of his official authority, from effecting an arrest of the actor or another, by:

(a) Using or threatening to use physical force or violence against the peace officer or another; or

(b) Using any other means which creates a substantial risk of causing bodily injury to the peace officer or another.

(2) It is no defense to a prosecution under this section that the peace officer was attempting to make an arrest which in fact was unlawful, if he was acting under color of his official authority, and in attempting to make the arrest he was not resorting to unreasonable or excessive force giving rise to the right of self-defense. A peace officer acts "under color of his official authority" when, in the regular course of assigned duties, he is called upon to make, and does make, a judgment in good faith based upon surrounding facts and circumstances that an arrest should be made by him.

(3) The term "peace officer" as used in this section and section 18-8-104 means a peace officer in uniform or, if out of uniform, one who has identified himself by exhibiting his credentials as such peace officer to the person whose arrest is attempted.

(4) Resisting arrest is a class 2 misdemeanor.

Translation: Even if the ticket they were originally trying to demand ID for, and were now aresting her for failing to provide ID for, was found to be invalid, that does not give her the right to resist arrest.

[TXCharlie]

This explains it all...

The racially charged case of Louise Jones got national attention two years ago, when an officer discharged a Taser at her. It happened in a melee that began after police tried to ticket the woman for honking her car’s horn.

On a lighter note, yours truly once honked at a police officer who had stopped a car for speeding in a dangerous place on a busy road... Well, he dropped his ticket-writing activities and immediately hopped in the car and followed me.

...To the gun range. On Match Day. He was immediately surrounded by about 20 guys with guns on their hips wondering what I had done

After a scolding followed by an "oh shit, your friends all have guns don't they?" I was released with a warning. I'll never do that again - I got ribbed about that for about 6 months lol